WESTERN DIGITAL 2TB HDD (WD RE4-GP)

Western Digital Has Launched a 3.5”, 2TB, WD RE4-GP, enterprise Version of HDD. This is the largest Capacity of HDD ever made by any manufacturer. This HDD is loaded with a lot of features.

Interface : This comes with SATA 2.0 interface with a maximum data transfer
speed of 3.0Gb/s.

Efficiency : The drive is made energy efficient, so to avoid heating and also to
run in economy mode. Three technologies added to this drive helps to do this. They are intelliseek, intellipark and intellipower.

Performance : As previous version had 32MB cache and yielded great
performance results, these drives are addition of cache of 64MB and support dual processing. These improvements boosts performance of the HDD by 25%.

Vibration Tolerance: As we know the most causes of failure of HDD is due to vibration while rotating at great speeds. This HDD comes with advancements to withstand the vibrations and work continuously.

Stable Trac : This is attached along with the sides of the motor shaft to avoid motor vibrations and the platters don’t hit the heads during any external vibrations.

RAID :Best suited for Raid configurations in enterprise. As a single harddrive can provide 2TB, the data centres and domains can be built cost effectively.

This drive is a high performing, efficient and reliable drive. Hope this is cheaper too. I can say it is great and i will surely use them to upgrade my workstation.

How to turn this Earth into GREEN Planet.

USE ENERGY, BUT DON’T WASTE ENERGY
Recently, a lot of ads show us that we should GO GREEN. But most of them do not guide us how to do. Here are a few tips to do to keep the planet green.

Plant More Trees
Grow more trees as much as we can. The trees take care of the CO2 level and keep this earth cool and maintains green. Falling more trees from this planet is nothing but killing our own kind. Our only hope is trees.

Difference between WinXP Professional and Win2000 Professional

Even today most of technicians have the doubt of what all are differences between xp and 2000. here are a list of differences for you.

Although XP is superior and faster than 2000, most people want to know more of the comparison. Hope you got your answers today.

Can we connect different brand of RAM in same PC

The problem that happens when we connect two or more, different brand of RAM or different size of RAM or different frequencies in a same PC is called FREQUENCY MISMATCH. This effect is not found most of the time immediately when we connect and power on the PC. This does not give any RAM beep to warn you. When there is a mismatch we cannot boot the OS properly, cannot copy files from one location to another, cannot compress or decompress files, and cannot run application that requires RAM resources. Of course this will show increase in size after connecting, but know that you are going to damage your RAM.

The cause for this problem is the RAM cannot withstand the operating frequency of each other as each RAM will produce an error while working. This varies with manufacturer and when this exceeds the limit, the RAM chip gets damaged. This slowly develops and at a stage creates trouble.

I myself practically tested this effect with two different size of RAM (128MB+64MB) showing 192MB, I could use the PC for about three months without any problems but later the OS crashed. I tried loading new OS, but it failed to install. Then I found that one of my RAM (64MB) developed unrecoverable damage in it.

Even after knowing this problem I made a mistake. In my office I connected four RAM of same frequencies, same size but different brands. For one week only the PCs were stable and I got the same annoying symptoms. Then when I tested I could find a RAM damaged internally and giving problem in performance. Please protect your PC without damaging hardware. So guys do not try this at home and cause damage to your loving PCs.

Having a single RAM module is OK but you might lose certain performance like dual channel mode. When buying two or more RAM for a single PC, see that you get the similar RAM delivered in the SAME BATCH. This will avoid any problems regarding the Frequency Mismatch.

Power Options in Microsoft Windows Vista fights Global Warming.

The power saving has become an essential requirement all over the world. We need to have advanced and more efficient configurations to be made to make more performance with less power loss. Most of the time we keep the PC powered on without any task. This consumes a lot of power. Power cuts are frequent due to the shortage in generation of Electricity. We can’t burn lot of fuel in generators as we all need a Green planet.
Microsoft has found solution for making the planet greener and made improvements in the configurations of power in Vista. These options are much better than XP and previous versions of its operating systems. We much advanced options that practically suit every user environment.
To change your power settings go to Control options, power options, choose any preconfigured plan or make your own configurations from the options available.

We can configure, start menu power button options, turnoff hard disks when idle, change wireless adapter setting, sleep settings, USB power, PCI Express Link state power management, processor power management, Search and indexing, Display power setting, windows dream scene setting, multimedia setting.

Use these options to save power and consume less carbon emitting fuels those cause the Global Warming. Please help to keep the planet green. We need this green planet for our future generations.

Difference between DDR1, DDR2 and DDR3

When we buy a PC we see the capacity of RAM by its size, there is another factor to consider, it’s Frequency or Working speed of RAM. RAM frequency has been updated most of the time and we are not able to judge what we need to buy. Here is a list of RAM upgrades and specifications. Plan before you buy one of them.

DDR1 is the first of the Series of the DDR-SDRAM and comes in the following series. The technology and its stable operation led to the invention of the latter memory modules. This powered the Entry level Pentium 4 series of boards and was a breakthrough from the older SDRAM.
DDR SDRAM: Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR200, DDR266, DDR333 are standard)
PC1600 (DDR-200 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 100MHz, Data Rate: 200MHz, Throughput 1600MB/s
PC2100 (DDR-266 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 133MHz, Data Rate: 266MHz, Throughput 2100MB/s
PC2400 (DDR-300 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 150MHz, Data Rate: 300MHz, Throughput 2400MB/s
PC2700 (DDR-333 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 166MHz, Data Rate: 333MHz, Throughput 2600MB/s
PC3000 (DDR-366 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 183MHz, Data Rate: 366MHz, Throughput 2900MB/s
PC3200 (DDR-400 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 200MHz, Data Rate: 400MHz, Throughput 3200MB/s

DDR2 Memory is Second series of memory developed from the DDR1. The speeds and built technology of these memory modules is much superior to the DDR1. This memory was also launched in a low and affordable cost which led to a great increase in memory sales. The high speed version of this memory boosts performance of gaming and animation related task.
DDR2 SDRAM: Double Data Rate SDRAM II (Quad Edge Clock Rate, 1.8v signaling), Second Generation
PC2-3200 (DDR2-400 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 100MHz, Data Rate: 400MHz, Throughput 3200MB/s
PC2-4300 (DDR2-533 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 133MHz, Data Rate: 532MHz, Throughput 4300MB/s
PC2-5300 (DDR2-667 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 167MHz, Data Rate: 667MHz, Throughput 5300MB/s
PC2-5400 (DDR2-675 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 167MHz, Data Rate: 667MHz, Throughput 5400MB/s
PC2-6400 (DDR2-800 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 200MHz, Data Rate: 800MHz, Throughput 6400MB/s

DDR3 Memory is the Third generation of DDR memory. It has been launched and is priced low to suit most of the PC consumers. This memory is expected to power the entry level servers, Gaming PCs and High-end Graphics related tasks. Sure this will make ours a high-end desktop PC.
DDR3 SDRAM: Double Data Rate SDRAM III (Quad Edge Clock Rate, 1.5v signaling), Third Generation
PC3-6400 (DDR3-800 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 100MHz, Data Rate: 800MHz, Throughput 6.40GB/s
PC3-8500 (DDR3-1066 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 133MHz, Data Rate: 1066MHz, Throughput 8.53GB/s
PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 166MHz, Data Rate: 1333MHz, Throughput 10.67GB/s
PC3-12800 (DDR3-1600 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 200MHz, Data Rate: 1600MHz, Throughput 12.80GB/s

What is the Windows Experience Index?

To check this feature, go to Control panel, open performance information and tools, click update my score.

The windows experience index is a new feature available in windows vista. If you have installed vista newly then you got to check the performance of the hardware components. Ratings are available for hardware, especially Processor, Memory, Graphics, Gaming Graphics and Primary Harddisk. Sub score are displayed for these components and base score is taken out of the sub score.

The base score is the least score achieved by the hardware. The lower base score means the lesser performance from the hardware and more the base score, the better performance you’ll have. Based on this analysis you can plan to buy your software that works best for your system. The score ratings ranges are 1.0 to 5.9, where 5.9 is the top score you can target.

Every time you install windows vista (or) new hardware, you need to update the score for vista to recognize the added performance. Windows aero will start after you install the drivers for graphics card and your base score updated. Aero requires base score 2.0 or above to work. If you have base score 1.0 you can run office application and browse internet, but you cannot use vista’s graphics demanding features.

A base score of 4.0 or 5.0 is required to run HDTV content, 3D gaming, Powerful graphics requirement of applications and the most of vista’s full featured animated graphics. The detailed information of the system like total Harddisk, active network adapters, and graphics can also be viewed from the view and print details option.

So if your base score is below 2.0, it indicates that you can have minimal pleasure out of your system, so plan to buy new hardware to improve system performance than blaming Windows Vista.

Convert Fat32 drives with Data into NTFS

Do you want to upgrade from Fat32 Drives to NTFS when you have your important data, then you got your hands on the right post.

Converting your Fat32 disk is a very easy task. You can run this command from the Windows XP command prompt. Formatting will also help convert the file system, but warning is we cannot do this if we have data, because formatting erases the data. So to convert safely without losing the data, we got to use this command only; we cannot convert from Disk management.

Just type the command convert D: /fs:ntfs, considering D: is the drive to be converted and give Enter. Give Volume label when prompted. You can find it in My Computer, and see what name is displayed with your drive, give enter when done. It takes few seconds based on the size of Drive and it’s done.

Be sure you want this conversion or not. NTFS drives cannot be accessed from win98 or previous versions. See that you have an UPS before running command, because if power fails during the conversion process, you might lose all data. Microsoft does not recommend taking this risk.

Difference between File Compression and NTFS Compression

Let’s test this using some document files. I’ve compressed the files with the file compression method and file system compression method and screen shots have been taken. Let’s analyze the results and find out.

File Compression

We can use Winzip and Winrar for compressing files. This can be used on FAT32 and NTFS drives. In this method the content of file is compressed based on the type of file and finally reduces the size of the file itself. It also packs the files and folders into a zipped folder. When the file is packed tight, it cannot be used without unpacking. So every time when we open the zipped file, we need to unzip it. This files can be Encrypted. This takes time and reduces performance. To compress files on XP and win2000, Right click on the folder and give, send to compressed folder.

NTFS Compression

We can use this method only on NTFS drives. When files and folder is compressed using this method, it reduces the amount of size required to store on a Disk. This does not alter the file or change its Extension. We can use file without manually unzipping, but when the file is accessed, the windows decompresses and when we close, it compress back to save space. We cannot Encrypt NTFS compressed files. This also does affect performance. To do this, open folder properties, go to Advanced and check mark the compress contents to save disk space and give OK.

These Pictures show what happens by these compression methods. The only point in compressing is to save space. When we compress with winrar or other application we can password protect the compressed file and also encrypt file names.

Intel Nehalem Microarchitecture

NEHALEM Features:
 Intel Quick path Architecture
 High-k process technology
 45nm presently and 32nm in future
 Inclusive last level cache
 SSE4.2
 Loop stream detector
 Simultaneous multi threading

These features are explained below…

One of the key features that NEHALEM has is the Quick path architecture. The two components are quick path memory controller and quick path interconnect. As memory controllers are integrated along with the processors the Bandwidth is increased rapidly boosting speeds of data input for the CPU’s. This also helps in integrating multi processor.

Intel Nehalem is built with Industry’s first, High Density transistor with High-k process technology coming in 45nm. The traditional Silicon Gate and Silicon Dioxide insulator is removed in transistors because for the electron leakage problem and comes equipped with Metal gate and Hafnium insulator. This Technology can power Notebooks, Desktop to High end Servers with energy efficiency.

Inclusive last level cache is introduced in Nehalem. This improvement eliminates unnecessary core snoops to reduce latency and improves cache performance. The older method is slower called Exclusive level cache.

Nehalem has 7 instructions set including 4 of SSE4.2. This helps better text and string processing boosting performance for XML parsing (communication protocol). Compared to older CPU’s, which reads text, bit by bit. The new feature lets us compare text in length of 16 bytes. This ultimately reduces the state transitions requirement.

The Loop stream detector identifies repetitive instruction sequences and queues the loop without getting it again from the source. This reduces power as it gives rest for other branch prediction, fetch and decode units.

Advanced features of Nehalem micro architecture are increased parallelism, more efficient algorithm and improved branch prediction.

Nehalem has a great feature called Simultaneous multithreading (SMT). It helps to run 2 threads per core. In Normal QUAD core processor, it sends data to cores which will process one thread per core. But with SMT present day multicore processors handle 8 threads (2 per core). future plan is to increase up to 16 threads. Just adding more and more Cores is not energy efficient way, with SMT we can increase the threading. This gives higher and higher performance for the growing needs of application. Ultimately reduces power consumption.

The full featured Nehalem is expected to be launched in November or December 2008. The Next generation 32nm processors will come later.